Home > Press > Researchers from CIDETEC-IK4, the CSIC and the University of Berkeley develop a nanosensor to detect diseases

Abstract:
Researchers from the Basque technological centre CIDETEC-IK4, the Higher Centre for Scientific Research (CSIC) and the University of Berkeley (U.S.) have developed a highly sensitive electrochemical sensor that can detect possible mutations in DNA more quickly than has been possible in the past.

Researchers from CIDETEC-IK4, the CSIC and the University of Berkeley develop a nanosensor to detect diseases

Spain | Posted on September 7th, 2009

The science journal NanoLetters, published by the American Chemical Society, has picked up on this joint venture for the manufacture of both optical and electrochemical nanosensors. The achievement of the research lies in the fact that the sensor they have developed uses only one nanotransistor, whose cable is a simple carbon nanotube. This means that it is possible to detect DNA waves without having to modify them to increase the system's sensitivity.

The journal also notes that the detection of DNA has been used only as a concept test to study the viability of the sensors, and that a whole field of possibilities will open up in the coming years when nanobiosensors will be able to detect other types of molecules and we will be able to use them to study genetic illnesses.

The specific contribution of CIDETEC-IK4 has consisted of making the nanotube function via a polymer that allows DNA anchoring. The polymer is an essential element without which the nanosensor does not function

####

About CIDETEC CIDETEC (Centre for Electrochemical Technologies) was created in 1997 as a non-profit Foundation whose mission is to serve both the industrial sectors related to electrochemistry and the Administration and society in general, its core activity being the field of applied research. One of the priority objectives of CIDETEC is to increase and consolidate the technological level of companies, and enhance their competitiveness through the implementation of innovative procedures and products based on electrochemical technologies.